A interesting topic that somehow does not seem to be brought up as often as one thinks it should. The world is always changing, but it seems to me and many others of course, that in the modern world we live in. It is becoming less and less important where we actually reside anymore. I remember about 15 years ago writing a article to a major weekly magazine called EMPTY SCHOOLYARDS OF AMERICA. It of course dealt with how due to modern technology, the internet and all, young kids spend so much of their times in their houses on the computer from 3.30 pm till bedtime on schooldays. Naturally mush has been written on it, but it is fascinating how a person these days can live in the middle of nowhere with all the modern technology before him and another can live in the middle of TIME SQUARE IN NEW YORK.Both in there own little worlds not mentally observing where they are until in secondary manner they walk out of their houses or apartments.I am happy to say this does not relate to me but it does to many and it is sad because it leads to the question. Does anyone know where they really live anymore. THE WORLD HAS SHRUNK.

The world hasn't shrunk, I think: it's more that borders and boundaries have been rearranged or eliminated. In some cases, this may not be such a great phenomenon. Yes, in some areas some children are spending much more time indoors. This has something to do with technology, but I'd also guess it has a lot to do with a changing cultural climate. Not only are there now video games and internet and whatnot, but there are also parents who are much more fearful of having their kids out of their direct supervision -- both because of technology (an increasingly mediated world that thrives on sensationalist fear-mongering) and because of other changes (where once maybe a neighborhood was a community that, in large part, could watch out for its own ("It takes a village to raise a child"), now people are more transient, work far from where they're living, move from place to place, are more closely clustered among more people they don't know, etc). So, yes, some kids may get less socialization and less of a chance to mature than they once did, and there's certainly no shortage of articles on how technology has allowed us to feel connected without being connected and thus has many of us experiencing loneliness and alienation even among crowds, etc etc.

BUT. On the other hand, in some ways it's much easier to find community now. For those who might once have been outcasts and felt alone in the world, there is now access to others experiencing the same problems, and they may take some comfort in the knowledge that they are not alone. For those kids whose interests have little in common with their peers in their schools or neighborhoods, they now have access to communities of interest where they may meet other people with those niche interests and hobbies. For those who are very shy they now have media to meet compatible personalities in situations that feel less impossible than approaching a stranger in a physical environment. And these technologies can bring the two worlds together: thanks to the internet, I have found people in my community, people who live within blocks of me, whom I would probably never have randomly bumped into on the street -- or even if I had, whom I probably would not have talked to, since in this country at this time it can be a major faux pas to get personal with a stranger on the street.